Rabin Blames Syria For Jet-bombing Try

May 8, 1986|By New York Times

WASHINGTON — Israel's defense minister said Wednesday that Syrian security and intelligence officials were responsible for the attempt last month to smuggle a bomb aboard an Israeli airliner at a London airport.

''We have all reason to believe,'' Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin said, ''that it was planned and carried out by part of the established organization of the security and intelligence community of Syria.''

In a meeting with reporters, Rabin also said the decision to smuggle the bomb aboard the El Al Israel Airlines jetliner had been made at a high level in the Syrian government. He said his judg- ment was based on information from the British authorities and other sources, but he declined to elaborate.

Repeated telephone calls to the Syrian Embassy for comment went unanswered. Rabin further said that the terrorists who attacked the Rome and Vienna airports in December ''came from Syria.'' Again declining to provide details, he said, ''We know there was involvement of Libya and Syria.''

The Syrian Embassy in East Berlin has been implicated in the attack on a West Berlin disco, according to West German security officials. The suspect was reported to have received training in Syria.